I've mentioned how old highways used to be my main focus of interest back in the 1980s and 90s, and I was often curious about when a road had been widened or a bypass constructed. As a hobby, I used to pour over old maps to try and figure it out – followed by driving out to photograph the 'now' view.
So when I saw this photograph that appeared in the Journal back on August 2, 1962, my 'old road' curiosity was rekindled. As the caption notes, "Crews are engaged in what is being called the largest road improvement project in the history of the Huron County Highway Department on S. Norwalk Rd., a mile south of Norwalk between Ridge Rd. and Rt. 250.
"The task, elimination of a hairpin curve over a narrow bridge, entails the building of a new 900 - road and a new pipe culvert, necessitating the moving of 5,000 square yards of dirt."
Originally I thought that this project had something to do with the U.S. 20 bypass south of Norwalk, but it's actually a road located just south of it.
These screen grabs (courtesy of HistoricAerials.com) tell the story. The 1959 view shows the South Norwalk Road in its original hairpin curve alignment, and the 1972 view shows its new, sweeping curve. That's the US Route 20 bypass at the top of the '72 and 2019 photos.
